Biography

I am currently a postdoctoral researcher with Eddie Brzostek at West Virginia University (WVU), funded by the US DOE’s CABBI, where I investigate the sustainability of Miscanthus × giganteus as a biofuel using FUN-BioCROP. I am currently incorporating multiple depths into FUN-BioCROP to better evaluate how the deep rooting profile of M. × giganteus impacts soil C sequestration. I am directing the investigation into the relationship between AMF biomass and M. × giganteus yield, nutrient uptake, and soil C sequestration in plots established by collaborators in the Morrissey Lab at WVU.

Previously I researched the responses of fine roots among different plant functional types to warming and elevated CO₂ in the SPRUCE experiment as a postdoctoral researcher with Colleen Iversen at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, funded by the US DOE’s TES-SFA project. Working as an empiricist on the same team as modelers convinced me of the power and importance of coupling well-designed empirical studies to process-based models at the ecosystem and earth system scale.

For my doctorate I used radio-isotopes to examine the exchange of plant-C and AMF-P in tightly controlled greenhouse experiments testing the responses of resource exchange to a gradient of AMF species richness, plant choice among AMF species, and AMF choice among plant species with Pascal Niklaus at the University of Zürich. This work was supported by the Zürich-Basel Plant Science Center. During this time I also co-supervised my student Lea Buol for her masters thesis.

Before my doctoral studies, I acted as the laboratory manager and technician for Marko Spasojevic at the University of California Riverside (UCR). The majority of my time was spent at Niwot Ridge LTER measuring plant functional traits, coordinating field campaigns, and mentoring an undergraduate for her summer NSF-REU project.

Prior to working with Marko, I did my masters at UCR with Jeffrey Diez and Michael Allen studying the responses of AMF to multiple global change drivers in the coastal sage scrub of the Loma Ridge Global Change Experiment.

My B.S. summa cum laude in Biology was received from the University of Central Florida, where I pursued research projects in plant-soil feedbacks, AMF, soil CO₂ respiration, and population genetics.